New Reform Wales councillor made calls for benefits claimants to be put down

Emily Price 

Reform UK's most recent Welsh defector previously featured in a national newspaper after she told friends on Facebook that people on benefits needed "putting down".

On Monday (August 18) Swansea gained its first Reform UK councillor when Francesca O’Brien - who represents Mumbles - announced she had joined Nigel Farage's party.

She was first elected to the council in 2022 but stood as a Tory general election candidate for the Gower seat in 2019.

During O’Brien's election campaign, The Guardian newspaper reported how she had previously written on social media that she believed people on the reality TV show Benefits Street needed "putting down".

In now deleted posts by the privately educated councillor published in 2014, she said: "Benefit Street..anyone else watching this?? Wow, these people are unreal!!!"

In another post about the TV series that followed the lives of benefit claimants, Reform's newest recruit wrote: "My blood is boiling, these people need putting down."

She then appeared to endorse a friend’s suggestion for, "twat a tramp Tuesday" to "take your batts [sic] to the streets".

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Defection

Cllr O’Brien later apologised for the comments saying they were "off the cuff".

At the time, Labour First Minister Mark Drakeford said he could not imagine voters in Gower backing such a candidate.

Cllr O’Brien went on to come second in the 2019 general election with the Gower seat being held by Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi.

We asked the Mumbles councillor if she regretted the comments she had previously made about benefits claimants - but Cllr O’Brien did not respond.

Announcing her defection on Monday, she said Farage's party was the only chance to break the "Labour-Plaid consensus in Cardiff Bay and create a government in Wales that understands the concerns of ordinary people".

The former Tory councillor was still working for Welsh Conservative MS Tom Giffard as constituency support staff at the time of her defection.

A Tory source told Nation.Cymru that Cllr O’Brien had up until recently intended to stand in the 2026 Senedd election for the Welsh Conservatives.

It is understood she had already gone through the Conservative Party's vetting process to take the number two spot on the Tories list of candidates for the Gwyr Abertawe seat but later backtracked.

Her former employer - Tom Giffard - is the lead candidate for the new super constituency.

Based on current polling, the Conservatives are unlikely to win two seats in Gwyr Abertawe at the upcoming Welsh election.

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'Scary'

Cllr O’Brien has been rumoured to have been promised the number one spot on Reform's list of candidates for the constituency.

The former Conservative councillor stands a far better chance of winning a Senedd seat under the Reform banner than if she stood for the Tories.

Reform UK says the party has not yet officially selected any candidates for next year's Senedd election.

On August 1, Cllr O’Brien posted a message to Facebook telling constituents she was leaving her communications officer role - a move she described as "scary" because she had "nothing lined up".

We understand that a vetting process for some of Reform's potential Senedd candidates took place over Friday and Saturday last week (August 15 and 16).

In a video posted online on Monday, O’Brien made light of her switch to the right-wing party saying it was "business as usual".

She later brushed off constituents concerns about her defection claiming her work would "remain exactly the same" regardless of the party she belonged to.

We asked Cllr O’Brien if this were the case, why did she defect to another party.

We also asked if there was any truth to the rumours that she had been promised the number one spot on Reform's list for the Gwyr Abertawe seat - Cllr O’Brien did not respond.

Reform UK declined to comment.